Second Life's classless server scheme

by Tateru Nino Nov 11th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Economy, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Thus far, one of the key factors in Second Life performance has been the class of server hardware hosting the simulator. There are plenty of other non-server items that might contribute to perceived poor performance, of course, but server class versus server utilization is a pretty consistent factor.

Traditionally, each class of server has a numerical designation and represents a certain basic equipment and operating system specification. In the past, some estate owners have opted not to upgrade to a newer class of hardware in order to avoid higher monthly fees. Now the server class system is coming to an end.

With new class 6 servers on the horizon, the Second Life grid is going to become more heterogeneous, with servers of assorted specifications deployed where it seems most appropriate.

"As we introduce new and better performing hardware," writes Jack Linden, "we can manage the Grid to provide the best hardware where it's most needed. As Landowners your Island will no longer age and end up on older hardware indefinitely - and over time we will move the standard hardware level up for everyone. We will soon be deploying a new specification of server more widely on the Grid, and rather than limiting that hardware to new Islands only, we would prefer to have the freedom to allow existing Landowners to benefit too."

There's a price for this, of course. As the new classless system settles in, you will no longer be able to determine what class of hardware your simulators are actually running on at any given time. The guarantee is that you won't be on any lower-specification server than you are presently on today, but that's a promise that seems to cut both ways.

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Tags: business-models, economy, jack-linden, second-life, sl-class6, virtual-worlds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

orinoco.beresford said on 6:57PM 11-11-2009

A ploy to ultimately withdraw grandfathered payment schemes???

Loki said on 7:24PM 11-11-2009

Please just tell me they wont be upping the price of my homestead PLEAASEE!!

Tateru Nino said on 7:51PM 11-11-2009

I'd guess that there are going to be price-adjustments in the works, but in which direction and how much, it is hard to guess. There's not really enough data to predict it at this stage, though there's supposed to be at least 60 days notice for changes to monthly fees.

Ann Otoole said on 8:34PM 11-11-2009

Probably going to change to a pay by use scheme so heavier use region owners pay more. Without warning of course. I'm sure LL is a tad behind on that pay for use thing. The cable companies seem to be discarding that idea of bandwidth capping, Roadrunner just upgraded everyone here for free. but they are still 1/2 of the competition. Still 10mbps down for no additional charge is much appreciated.

Or this is a way to leverage out of business the estates that are not grandfathered in to the %195 a month. Those estates can practice presatory pricing to acquire the last vestiges of the declining actual users that bring money. And that is what everything is pointing to with LL. Keepin a few select "partners" in business to put an end to UGC and keep all the money amongst friends while they are at it.

Melissa Yeuxdoux said on 6:50AM 11-12-2009

I hope that it won't matter soon; the "one server = one sim" arrangement is wasteful.

Ciaran Laval said on 1:16PM 11-12-2009

Pay to play, never considered that Ann but you could be onto something, maybe people will pay extra to get their script limits raised. Hmmm.

Orinoco Jack has stated that there will be no end to grandfathering on the back of this move. The move makes sense to me, mainland was upgraded to class 5, it's silly having the distinction, let's also not forget that grandfathered class 5 sims do exist.

Loki your homestead is scheduled to have a tier increase in July 2010.

Melissa I thought it was four sims per server? One server per core, now they're moving to newer hardware I'm sure this will change.

Ari Blackthorne said on 2:15PM 11-12-2009

It's one SIM per core; four cores per CPU; (assumed) one CPU per server (though that could change).

Least-wise, that's how I understand it to be.

Melissa Yeuxdoux said on 8:31PM 11-12-2009

Oops... Sorry, I was out of it. Yes, one CPU per sim--but the principle is the same. It's an arbitrary mapping that's easy to implement, but leaves unoccupied sims with CPUs twiddling their thumbs, while busy sims are desperate for resources.

Ciaran Laval said on 8:39PM 11-12-2009

Melissa at Jack's office hour that very subject was mentioned, so they have been having the discussion at the lab, just not sure how they'd implement it.

Jenny Thielt said on 3:32PM 12-05-2009

Actually the number of sims per core changed, now its 2 per core, it changed a few months back and that info is on the second life wiki land page

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Land#Full_Region

" Full Region

There are two full regions per server host CPU. A region can hold up to 100 avatars and 15,000 prims."

So a quad core server now hosts up to 8 full regions.

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